Heath Taylor - Left-handed Pitcher
Born: 05/6/1986 - Height: 6'0" - Weight: 215 - Bats: Left - Throws: Left
| Year | Age | Team | Lvl | W | L | ERA | G | GS | SV | IP | H | ER | HR | BB | K | BB/9 | K/9 | WHIP |
| 2007 | 21 | Mahoning Vy | A- | 3 | 3 | 2.35 | 12 | 12 | 0 | 57.1 | 53 | 15 | 0 | 15 | 38 | 2.4 | 6.0 | 1.19 |
| 2008 | 22 | GCL Indians | R | 0 | 0 | 0.00 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 4.5 | 18.0 | 0.50 |
| 22 | Mahoning Vy | A- | 0 | 0 | 0.00 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3.2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 6 | 7.3 | 14.7 | 1.09 | |
| 22 | Kinston | A+ | 2 | 2 | 4.79 | 10 | 0 | 0 | 20.2 | 16 | 11 | 2 | 17 | 21 | 7.4 | 9.1 | 1.60 | |
| Career | 5 | 5 | 2.80 | 27 | 12 | 0 | 83.2 | 70 | 26 | 2 | 36 | 69 | 3.9 | 7.4 | 1.27 |
History: Taylor was a 10th round pick in the 2007 Draft out of the University of Oklahoma. Strengths & Opportunities: Taylor features a traditional three-pitch mix of a fastball, curveball, and changeup, with his fastball sitting around 88-91 MPH. He had a great year his first season in his professional debut at short-season Single-A Mahoning Valley in 2007 going 3-3 with a 2.35 ERA in 12 starts. When spring training broke this past season, Taylor was one of the big surprises as far as roster makeup was concerned as he started the year in the advanced Single-A Kinston bullpen and ended up skipping Single-A Lake County where he was projected to begin the season in the starting rotation. After an impressive first few outings in Kinston, Taylor's performance declined rapidly and was the result of a partial tear to the ulnar collateral ligament in his pitching elbow. He went on the disabled list in early May and did not have to undergo surgery, but he was shutdown and had no baseball activity for six to seven weeks and did not start throwing again until July. Now that he is 100% recovered from the injury, his focus is on his health, improving his command in the zone, and making up for lost time.
Outlook: Taylor participated in the Fall Instructional League in Arizona, and also went to the Hawaii Winter League to get in some work (4 games, 12.1 IP, 2.19 ERA, 14 H, 4 BB, 9 K). He likely will get another shot to pitch in Kinston at the outset of 2009, likely in the bullpen.
Photo courtesy of Ken Carr
Heath Taylor MinorLeagueBaseball.com stats page
Everything on this site is free, but for those interested in making any monetary contributions to help support the stability and growth of this site please click on the "Donate" button below.
6 comments:
heath taylor has historicly come to any club below the expectations radar.. at O.U.... in the draft..at mahoning valley... and at kinston..
he's fought for every start he ever got... waiting patiently as a bull-pen regular.. and performing under pressure when opportunity comes to call....
two time high school all american... and new-york penn all-star.. he's coming to reclaim his starting job at kinston in 09... or perhaps in AA..
I'm a fan of Heath's. I was really excited to see what he would do in Kinston last year after his great statistical season in Mahoning Valley in 2007 and flat out skipping Lake County. He got off to a great start too in Kinston, then the injury cropped up and destroyed his season and progress. I'm curious to see how he bounces back this year. Unfortunately, due to the lack of great stuff and his questionable health to go with his advanced age in the lower levels of the system still it hurt his stock as far as the ranking goes....but if he performs and proves he is healthy this year and gets to Akron, and also develops more as a pitcher, I see no reason why he wouldn't jump a lot in next year's ranking. You sound like you know him well, and by the signs of it he is determined to kick some ass in spring training and in the regular season this year. That's great to hear! Much luck to him, and I look forward to seeing and talking to him in spring training and throughout the season.
thanks for the words of encouragement and objective criticism... yes i do know heath well and assert you should not count him out.... i'm his biased grandfather...
the elbo feels great and he's anxious to arrive in phoenix... his flight leaves dallas tomorrow..
watch for him ! neither of us will be disappointed... thanks !
Hey, as a granparent you by all means have the right to be a little biased.:-) I very much look forward to seeing Heath when I head out to Goodyear here in less than 3 weeks.
This is my amazing cousin! I am very proud of him!:]
- Ashleigh.
Post a Comment